


The Sparrow and The Rogue

by klbwriting



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M, after season 2, ben is in sparrow academy, ben is known as number one now, my take on season 3, there is technically an eighth hargreeves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25721659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klbwriting/pseuds/klbwriting
Summary: The Umbrella siblings arrive back in 2019 to discover that Ben has no idea who they are, their dad wants them all dead, and they are once again in way over their heads
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves/Original Female Character(s), Ben Hargreeves/Reader
Kudos: 29





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’M AT IT AGAIN. Another series because I’m a glutton for punishment and I can’t resist my love for Ben Hargreeves. A few actual notes now. Note 1: In this I refer to Ben as Number One because I feel that is who he seems to be in the Sparrow Academy and also once Reginald learned of the others I don’t think he would allow personal names ever again. Note 2: I have named the reader in this as Number Eight because I feel its ambiguous that you can infer yourself as a reader into the shoes of someone just called a number. Note 3: I am really trying to portray the characters well so I hope you enjoy! Please give kudos, but most of all COMMENT. Thank you!

Klaus couldn't process what he was seeing. Ben, his brother, his dead compadre, the one person who was always there for him (except when he was on something, and that one time he just abandoned him in a bar), was right there in front of him with a bad boyband haircut and hate in his eyes. It was a scene that was both tragic and beautiful for Klaus. Vanya felt similar feelings rise in her. Ben had been the one to truly save the world, had been the kindest of her siblings when they were kids, the one who seemed to actually love her and here he was looking at her like he wanted to unleash the horror on her right in the living room that she used to call home. Diego recalled easily how Ben when he was possessing Klaus had hugged him so tight and he had felt the love he missed from his baby brother, but now he had the distinct feeling that Ben would take him out without a second thought. None of the other four had had any moments with Ben recently but they were feeling similar things, happiness at the fact that he was alive, but confusion over how different he seemed. Klaus finally opened his mouth to say something when Reginald stepped in.

"These are the morons I told you about Number One, they have come to usurp your group, they are what I have trained you for," he said. The Umbrella siblings turned to face their father, faces a mix of rage and hurt. Ben frowned looking at the motley group in front of him. "Well Number One? Lead your team against these frauds." He was conflicted, he had rarely attacked anyone who didn't deserve it and he didn't really know what these guys did to deserve the wraith of his father, but before he would make a move the front door of the academy burst open, shattering to the ground as several figures entered the room. Leading them was a familiar face.

"You dummies going to just stand there?" Lila asked as she entered the room ready for a fight. The Umbrella siblings looked back to the Sparrow siblings to see them now all around Ben, masks on, and ready for attack. Surprisingly however, none of them looked anything like the Umbrella siblings, they were all completely different, except for Ben. 

"What are you waiting for Number One? ATTACK!" Reginald yelled. 

"Shut up dad," a girl standing beside Lila snarked to Reginald. He glared back at her.

"I see you've grown yet again Number Eight, getting bigger by the day," he snarked back. She snarled at him. 

"O come on, fat-shaming? That's a little much," Klaus said. Then he caught sight of Lila's expression. "O right, escaping." He followed his siblings and the two women out as the others with them were left behind to fight with the Sparrow siblings. They got a few blocks away before stopping for breath. 

"Number Eight?" Five finally spat out at the unknown woman. She shrugged. 

"I was Number Eight for five years before Lila here came along and sprung me," she explained. Diego looked confused.

"You look exactly the same as you did in the 60's how is that possible if you raised another person?" he asked. Lila smirked.

"A lady never reveals her secrets. O I missed you love," she answered, gripping Diego's face in her hand. He rolled his eyes but didn't pull away. He missed her too if he was being honest even though she had tried to kill him, a few times. "Now I see you have met your new counterparts."

"Why is Ben leader?" Luther asked. The rest of the siblings looked at him as if to say 'what the fuck dude?' He held up his hands shrugging. 

"Because Ben as you call him is the strongest in that crop, at least in terms of powers, channeling a being of destruction in your abs can get you a lot if you try," Eight responded. "But he can be sympathetic and good most of the time." She reddened some at the confused looks on the siblings faces.

"You'll have to forgive sweet little Eight here, she has a bit of crush on Number One there," Lila said, putting an arm around Eight that the woman immediately shrugged off in annoyance. "Anyway, now that you've returned to the present I should catch you up shouldn't I? Come on, to our little hideout, the others should be getting there by now since our little distraction and extraction worked." She turned without getting a response and headed down a flight of stairs that had construction blocks in front of it, disappearing underground with Eight following her. The others looked at each other and one by one they followed the women into the ground.

\----------------------------

Number One found himself wondering several things after the scuffle had ended. One, why had his father spent so much time talking up this group of siblings like they were evil incarnate? He didn't see any sign of anger or threat from any of them. Two, why did Eight always have to show up with Lila? It drove him crazy to see her, especially now after their last one on one fight that didn't exactly end with a normal take down unless Lila was teaching unexpectedly kissing as a new technique. And three, where the hell had they gotten the name Ben from? He racked his brain for a time that he was known as Ben and he couldn't recall one. 

"Dad, what was all that about?" he questioned as his siblings watched at dinner that night. Reginald sighed deeply, hating to be questioned, especially with Pogo and Grace in the room.

"Number One, I have told you before, the Umbrella Academy is a rival, a group who wants to destroy us and what we hope to achieve," he said as if One was a small child. 

"I understand that's what you told us but that is not what I saw in them today, they looked sad, and confused," he said. "If they were a threat then why didn't they seem to know us at all? Why did they call me Ben?" 

"Enough Number One, if you cannot listen properly then you are dismissed from dinner and are to go study Lord Byron again, maybe you will learn something finally," he snapped. One gripped his fork tightly but stood and did as told, just like always. He was the leader and needed to set an example. He heard the whispers from his siblings before they were silenced by their father. He felt Number Three poking around in his mind, trying to see what he was thinking, trying to put a thought into his head but he shook it off and headed upstairs to his room. 

He shut the door and let out a breath, finally relaxing for the first time that day. He stripped off his uniform and got into comfier clothes, before laying down in his bed. He laid there, actually taking out Lord Byron and reading some before he heard the last of his siblings go to their rooms. Once he was sure that the house was completely locked down and everyone was at least pretending to sleep he put the book down and rolled over, feeling behind his bed for the loose brick just below his box spring. He pulled it out and from it he pulled out a crayon drawing and a cell phone. He put the picture back into the hidey hole before powering up the phone. He smiled at the message that was waiting for him.

'It was nice to see you today even if I almost had to kill you'  
'You couldn't kill me if you tried'  
'Ya, you're probably right, but you couldn't kill me either One'  
'I know Eight, I know'  
'Maybe we can find a way to have a fight tomorrow?'  
'I do have some time scheduled to patrol between 9th and 15th street aroud 5 pm'  
'I'll be sure to vandalize a building or maybe rob a warehouse on say 12th?'  
'I'll be there to stop you'  
'Can't wait, goodnight One'  
'Goodnight Eight, o and what dad said, you look amazing the way you are'

He didn't get an answer but knew she'd see it in the morning and hopefully it would make her smile. He put the phone and brick back and drifted off imaging her smiling at his message.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Umbrella siblings learn about what’s been going on in this timeline, One lives a day in his life, and has a pretty fun date trying to kill his wannabe girlfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a kudo or comment if you enjoy!

Even though the Umbrella siblings were promised an explanation that evening they never got one. At least most of them didn’t. There was a debrief to the small group of powered adults by Lila and Eight and then Diego and Lila disappeared somewhere while the rest of the group had dinner with what they discovered were a team called the ‘Rogues’ and they were kidnapped from directly under Reginald’s nose. Most of them had chosen names while a couple stayed with their numbers, liking the way they sounded. Eleven was very happy now that they kept their named now that Stranger Things was popular and they had the same powers as the character in the show. They were giving rooms in the hideout, having to double up with the Rogues already there. It was a surprise to no one that Diego was just fine sharing with Lila and Allison was almost a little nervous to share with Eight not knowing what her power was.

“You look happy,” she said, trying to break the ice with the girl who was texting and had a smile on her face. Eight looked over as if she forgot Allison was there and blushed, putting the phone under her pillow quick. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Its no big deal, just don’t tell Lila about it ok?” she said. Allison nodded with a smile. “She would be very annoyed if she found out I was texting with someone inside the Sparrows.”

“Ben?” Allison asked, sitting up now, full ready to have some girl time. Eight considered this, then finally sat up herself. She never got to talk to anyone about One and how confusing things were between them. 

“Ya, he’s One here, he was your brother?” she asked. Allison nodded.

“Ya, he was killed on a mission when we were teenagers. Klaus could still see him, he communes with the dead, but the rest of us weren’t so lucky,” she said. 

“What was he like in your time?” Allison considered how to answer.

“We weren’t super close, he was always close with Vanya and Diego, he was so kind to everyone, especially the ones dad was hardest on. I remember one time I was walking by Diego’s room while he was practicing his speech and Ben was in there, they had to have been 7 maybe, and he was just sitting there listening and encouraging him. Diego was crying after a bit of not being able to get a word out and Ben just took his hand and said ‘don’t think about dad, just think about talking to me, you know you can take your time with me’. That’s who Ben was, just the best,” she said, getting a little teary thinking about her lost brother. Eight smiled and moved to sit next to Allison, a comforting arm going around her shoulders.

“That version is still here. I have seen moments of that person in One, that kindness,” she said. “My first memory is with One, when I think we were 4, its really simple, I had fallen and scraped up my knee during a morning run and dad was livid at me, even at 4 I was always too big and slow for him to tolerate so he made me do extra laps and One was there with me the whole time, ran every single one next to me even though he was faster and could have been done, he stayed with me.” 

“That sounds like Ben,” Allison agreed. “I hope maybe we can get past this, I don’t know what dad is planning but I’m so tired of running around and being chased, just so tired.” Eight nodded.

“Get some sleep, no one will wake you up tomorrow so you can get a good rest,” she said, moving back to her bed and laying down. Allison followed suit and she closed her eyes, drifting off to a music box playing now in the room. She hadn’t noticed one being around before but Eight must have had next to her somewhere. Once she was sleeping Eight lifted a hand and the music box across the room stopped playing, letting her fall asleep also. 

\--------------------------

Number One was going through the motions today. He had woken up early as usual and went to the kitchen to help mom make breakfast. He knew she couldn’t really appreciate it like a person, but he thought she enjoyed spending time with him anyway. He could feel his father’s present before he saw him, entering the kitchen and giving him a disproving look, still angry about dinner no doubt.

“Good morning Number One, feeling a little less rebellious today?” he said, sitting at the breakfast table and looking through a morning paper. One glared at the eggs he was plating and set the plate down in front of Reginald a little harder than he meant. “Ah, I see you are still in a mood. Very well, you will be in charge of leading drills this morning, now eat your eggs.” One didn’t say anything but internally he groaned, drills made everyone hate him for days. He ate in silence with the rest of his siblings before standing and telling them to get up and get to the yard. They shot him death glares before doing as asked, knowing the punishment was worse than the drills.

Two hours later and his siblings were off again, probably meeting in one of their rooms to talk about how much they hated him and his kiss ass ways. One however, had more work to do, heading out to do his first patrol of the day. He had no idea why dad sent him to do patrols instead of waiting for something to happen, especially now that the Umbrella siblings had shown up. First the patrols were for them, then they became patrols for general crime, but now that the word of the Horror had spread no one would dare commit a crime in the city limits unless they wanted to die a horrible death over 30$ in some purse.

This time out in the city gave him a chance to release some stress that he needed. He found a park nearby and soon was casually swinging watching the kids around him and reminding himself of why he dealt with everything. Without the Sparrow Academy the apocalypse would have happened two days ago. They had saved history, keeping the timeline on track after something called ‘The Commission’ went belly up in the 60s due to some kind of explosion. Where they had left off Reginald had picked it up, first on his own, and then when the 43 were born, with the 15 he had been able to get his hands on. They had been whittled down to 6 humans and a box that told them where to go and got them in and out. Ben may have hated his father but he would protect these people, always. 

One patrolled until lunch, stopping at the kitchen table to eat alone before going to his room and checking his messages on his secret phone. Before he could open it he had to hide it under his pillow as his door was shoved open and Number Two walked in. Two stood silent for a second, seemingly realizing that he had caught One doing something he shouldn’t.

“You alright One?” he asked suspiciously. One stood up, facing off against his sibling, mustering up his bravado.

“Ya, what do you want number Two?” he emphasized the word two just to irritate them. They growled, glaring.

“Dad wanted to have us trade patrols tonight, I’ll take 9th to 15th, you take the old trainyards,” Two said. “Starting now, I’m supposed to watch you leave.” One gritted his teeth, anger seething through him. 

“Let me get ready, I need to get my shoes,” he said. Two just stood in the doorway watching as One went back to his bed, sitting down and tying his shoes extra slow, hoping something would happen to make Two glance away. Someone must have heard his silent plea because something clunked in the hall making Two look around for a fight. One grabbed the phone and shoved it in his pocket before standing up. “Alright, you want to walk me to the front door too?” Two glared and let him pass by, closing his door behind him.

After he was outside and a couple blocks away he texted Eight, letting her know of the change of plans, before heading down to the trainyards, thinking about maybe doing some sprints while he waited for her.

\-----------------------------

The Umbrella siblings sat in the main room of the hideout with Lila and Eight, Lila explaining what had happened to the Commission and what the Sparrow Academy had been up to. They knew that after the Commission was taken down those in the ‘Resistance’ had taken up control of the timeline under rule of Lila and the kids she had collected from over time, starting with Eight. 

“We developed the traveling technology by stealing what Reginald had already figured out. The briefcases were big and too easy to lose, too much of a hassle, so instead Reginald created watches capable of the travel,” she explained.

“How did he figure that out? I watched the Commission try for decades to create that kind of technology,” Five cut in. Lila glared at him, still not exactly happy that he was alive after killing her parents, no matter who had ordered the hit. 

“I don’t know, took a few tests to figure out how to use the watches, but now we can track where the Sparrows go and then fix whatever they mess up in history, keep the timeline on track,” Lila explained. Confusion rippled through the room.

“What do you mean you fix the Sparrows messes?” Luther asked, sitting forward, the chair creaking loudly. He made a face and waited for someone to say something just so he could hit them. 

“The Sparrows travel around on orders from dad to ‘fix’ history, ya know, kill Steve Jobs before the iPhone, assassinate Abe Lincoln when he’s running for president, take out Thomas Jefferson, although that last one I really hated to fix,” Eight said. “Such a brilliant mind, such a shit fucking person.” She stood up and went to stand by the open door, Lila looking over at her.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lila asked. 

“I’m warm, there’s a draft over here,” Eight explained, leaning on the wall, hand in her jacket pocket. 

“Why don’t you just take off the jacket?” Klaus asked, getting elbowed by Allison. “What?” 

“I like this jacket,” was her answer before she looked out the doorway. Lila rolled her eyes and returned to the original conversation.

“So after we fix their messes, they make more messes. We’re not sure what exactly Reggie is trying to do but either way, we know we have to make sure history happens as expected. Except for the apocalypse, none of us could really muster the desire to stop fixing that,” she said.

“So now we’re in no mans land?” Vayna asked, getting a little nervous about bringing about another end of the world scenario. Lila nodded.

“Honestly, only Five has lived past the apocalypse and now that it didn’t happen I don’t know what the game plan from here is, I just know what happens in actual history to keep that on track, what those changes bring in the future is a crap shoot,” she said. “Isn’t that right Eight? Eight?” She turned to see the doorway empty, no trace of Eight left in the hide out anymore. Allison sat in her seat and smiled softly, having an inkling where she was going, hoping that maybe she could turn Ben back to their side. 

\-------------------------

Eight had gotten One’s message and headed towards the trainyards. She passed by Number Four along the way and realized quick that One was being followed. She acted like she was patrolling, hoping to not have to fight Four but knowing it was a possibility. Four however, let her pass, clearly just being around to watch their brother and what he was doing. Once at the trainyards Eight dipped through old train cars, running up and down tracks until she saw One. She approached him slowly.

“You have a friend around,” she said. One’s eyes flashed the area and he caught a quick glance of crimson ducking behind a car nearby. “So I guess this is another fight to the death?”

“Guess so,” he said with a smirk. Eight smiled back sweetly. “No powers?”

“No powers, pinky promise,” she said before diving towards him, fist raised. 

One easily blocked the shot, moving around to fire back with his own fist. Eight easily dodged and punched his stomach, pulling the hit so it didn’t actually hurt. One doubled over anyways, spearing her around the waist and taking her to ground, just out of view of Four.

“So, ready to play dead?” he asked, holding her shoulders down as she laid under him, watching him closely before nodding. He smiled down at her before standing up and walking around the car, hands raised above his head as in victory. He knew once Four saw this they would call out to him. 

“Hey Number One!” Four called as expected, walking over the tracks. One hurried to meet them, not wanting them to actually see that Eight was alive. “You finally got the bitch!” 

“Yup, finally caught her by surprise, she said no powers like an idiot,” he said, chuckling darkly. Four nodded and laughed. “Well I’m going to finish my patrol and head home, but ya know, gotta get rid of the body first.” Four nodded.

“Need help?” they asked. One shook his head.

“Nah, I got it, just going to shove her under the traincar, no one will find her and if they do animals will do the job first,” he said. Four nodded, turning and walking away without another word. Four was easiest to trick and One was glad dad hadn’t sent Two or Six after him.

Once he was sure Four was gone he headed back to the traincar to find Eight sitting against the wheel, having been listening. He took a seat next to her, close enough that their shoulders were touching, hand gently finding its way over to hers on her leg. He linked their fingers and sighed.

“Well, that’ll lighten things up for a bit, dad will think you’re dead for awhile,” he said, looking at her. She nodded and looked at him.

“You know we can’t do this forever, one day we have to either tell all the truth or run away,” she said. “We could go to the 90’s, relive our childhood but ya know as adults. I’ll be old enough to buy myself Backstreet Boys tickets.” One laughed and shook his head.

“Someday, but I can’t leave this behind, I mean we’re fixing history, making sure everything keeps on track,” he said. Eight sighed and rolled her eyes. “I know, you guys think we mess it up, but we don’t, we help, we save people, you guys are the ones who come around messing it up again.” 

“We honestly don’t know who is fixing what,” she said. “I just wish I knew what dad was planning for, why he’s doing all this.” 

“He’ll tell me when I’m ready,” One said indignantly, trying to justify why he was so readily going along with Reginald. 

“I hope he does, I’m curious which side I’m on,” Eight said. She looked at him. “Enough talk, I don’t think we really came here to talk.” One nodded, leaning in and pressing his lips to hers, kissing her until he ran out of air, then taking a breath, and going right back in.


End file.
